For Kids

If Harry Potter ever needs a female cohort, Squire Keladry of Mindelan,
the heroine of Pierce's action-adventure series about a
knight-in-training, could easily back him up. At 15, Kel has been
known, while wielding a 14-foot lance, to toss full-fledged knights
from charging horses. And much to the chagrin of her foes, she does so
without the aid of magic.

In the first two installments of the series, set in the fictional
kingdom of Tortall, Kel overcomes the seething disapproval of
conservative nobles to earn a spot as the first official female page in
a century. After four grueling years of proving she can perform even
better than her male counterparts, she continues her uphill battle
during this second phase of training. By now, however, she's won a few
key supporters, including the highly respected Lord Raoul, who signs on
as her knight-master. Under his tutelage, Kel hunts pirates, battles
centaurs, builds dams, and survives hand-to-hand combat with Tortall's
northern neighbors.

All the while, she mentally prepares for the final rite of passage
into knighthood—the Ordeal. In a magic chamber, she must face,
and overcome, her worst fears. Those who've gone before her say the
chamber is "like a cutter of gemstones. It looks for your flaws and
hammers them, till you crack open." But Kel has already survived some
crucial real-life tests. In the past year, for example, she's seen
criminals hanged and children murdered by bandits. And appalled to
learn that a young noble who'd kidnapped a lowly maid was only fined
for his offense, she boldly appealed to the king himself. "That's not
right," she told him. "It's like saying common folks are slaves. Their
rights are measured in coin, not justice."

As Kel is forced to make her own decisions, Pierce treats tough
subject matter with frank dialogue and candid prose, enabling readers
to draw parallels between medieval and contemporary issues. Kel's first
encounter with love, for example, leaves her in a romantic tizzy: She
wants to earn her knight's shield without distraction but can't deny
her feelings.

Kel's mother advises her to "get a charm to keep you from pregnancy,
until you're certain you'd like to be a mother. Then, if you do get
carried away, you can surrender to your feelings." This mature
approach, coupled with the thrill of adventure, is what makes the book
so alluring.

The omniscient narrator rallies readers behind Kel, who's determined
to make a mark in an often-confusing, male-dominated kingdom. She
shines as a role model for both the little noble girls, who take up
archery in her footsteps, and today's young women. Still, boys will be
equally enchanted by the tale, if not specifically for Kel's heroics
then for the broader story of chivalry. Every child dreams of becoming
someone special, and Kel just might succeed.

— Jennifer Pricola

A DRAGON IN THE SKY: The Story of a Green Darner Dragonfly,by Laurence Pringle, with illustrations by Bob Marstall. (Orchard,
$18.95; grades K-4.)

More than half a century ago, an author-illustrator with a remarkable
talent and memorable name began turning out intricately plotted,
meticulously researched, and lavishly illustrated children's books, the
likes of which had not been seen before. In gems like Tree in the
Trail, Pagoo, and Minn of the Mississippi, Holling Clancy
Holling followed the life cycles, respectively, of a giant cottonwood
tree, a hermit crab, and a snapping turtle. Largely ignored (if not
forgotten) today, his books seamlessly blended fact and fiction in a
way that made them both informative and entertaining for kids and
adults alike.

With Dragon in the Sky, Pringle follows in Holling's
footsteps, tracking the existence of a single darner dragonfly he calls
Anax. Although he's given the insect a name, Pringle avoids
anthropomorphism. He sticks to the facts, describing in detail Anax's
experiences and surroundings from his earliest days as a nymph in a
western New York swamp to his final days, months later, at a pond in
Florida.

Pringle, who has written more than 90 children's books, does a fine
job mixing science and storytelling. Although not a page turner, the
narrative offers many dramatic moments while chronicling the stages in
Anax's life. Dragonflies may be large, fierce-looking insects, but they
are relatively small, fragile players within their ecosystems. As a
result, life is a constant struggle to eat but not be eaten. Almost
every page relates a narrow escape from a larger predator or the tasty
conquest of a damselfly, ant, or small moth.

Throughout the narrative, Pringle drops in all kinds of interesting
factual tidbits. He writes, for example, that dragonfly wings are
"powered in a way unique among insects." Most flying bugs have four
wings that beat as a single unit. But a dragonfly's front and back
wings move independently, allowing the insect to remain parallel to the
ground and make split-second maneuvers, Pringle explains.

One of the unmistakable trademarks of Holling's books was the
marginalia. While his stunning full-page paintings brought the stories
to life, copious line drawings and jottings filled the borders around
the text, giving readers loads of additional material. Marstall and
Pringle employ the same device. Their margins aren't as packed as
Holling's, but the small illustrations and accompanying captions add
wonderful sidelights to the narrative. Marstall's larger illustrations,
done in watercolor and oil, also work nicely. Delicate and detailed,
they give the pages a graceful, almost elegant, feel.

This, then, is a great book for the elementary classroom, perfect
for reading aloud over several days. Both entertaining and smart, it
will teach students about dragonflies and their environs. But it also
will do something else: show kids that, in the natural world, survival
rests on a little skill and a lot of luck.

—Blake Hume Rodman

Noteworthy

FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS: Heroes of Iwo Jima,by James
Bradley, with Ron Powers, adapted for young people by Michael French.
(Delacorte Press, $15.95; grades 6 and up.)

History buffs and budding photographers will especially enjoy this kid-
friendly version of Bradley's adult book. He introduces six U.S.
Marines who served in "Easy Company" during World War II—the men
Joe Rosenthal photographed as they raised an American flag on Mount
Suribachi. The shot earned a Pulitzer Prize and made celebrities of the
three flag raisers who survived the war. But few know the story behind
the photo or how the men shunned the spotlight. Bradley is reverential
in his descriptions of the young soldiers, including his father, John
"Doc" Bradley, but he successfully voices their humility: "The men of
Easy Company—they just did what anybody would have done, and they
were not heroes." French makes the story accessible to young readers,
and because Bradley focuses on the idea of heroism more than the war,
the book doesn't read like an academic tome.

LARKY MAVIS,by Brock Cole. (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux,
$16; grades K-2.) In his novels for young adults—The
Goats and The Facts Speak for Themselves, among
others—Cole often addresses dark, disturbing themes. But his work
for young children displays a lighter touch, as anyone who has ever
picked up Nothing but a Pig, The Giant's Toe,
Buttons, or his other picture books knows. These stories are
amusing and quirky but usually thought-provoking, as well. Larky
Mavis is no exception; in fact, it may be Cole's pièce de
résistance. In the book, a socially outcast but harmless young
woman discovers a creature living in a peanut shell, of all places. She
then nurtures it to maturity despite the scorn and disapproval of her
fellow villagers. In the end, her steadfastness and faith are rewarded
with grace. To say more would spoil the impact of this remarkable tale,
deftly illustrated by Cole in pen and watercolor.

FOLLOWING FAKE MAN,by Barbara Ware Holmes. (Knopf,
$15.95; grades 4- 7.) At 12, Homer Winthrop recognizes his unique
ability to express his emotions in artistic ways. How, then, can he be
related to his mother, a linguist who pays more attention to Homer's
diction than what he's trying to say? He asks, for example, about his
neurologist father, who died of a neurological disease, and she just
says it's a "sad irony." But when they visit a town in Maine where Dad
once lived, Homer begins to search for more telling clues. What ensues
is a lively string of events involving a "hard-core phony baloney" man
possibly connected to the late Dr. Winthrop. Though Homer narrates, the
book is also sprinkled with quirky, first-person accounts from others,
including his friend's comic-strip report on trailing the "fake man."
In the end, Homer does crack the mystery, but to say more would ruin
the fun.

THE NAME JAR,by Yangsook Choi. (Knopf, $16.95; grades
K-2.) On her first day of school in the United States, Unhei, a
young Korean girl, gets teased during the bus ride by some children who
can't pronounce her name. Embarrassed, she decides to come up with a
new American name and tells her classmates that she'll choose one
within a week. Before long, a large jar appears on her desk with some
pieces of paper inside: name suggestions from the other children. As
the jar fills up, anticipation grows. Although the outcome seems
obvious—surely she will keep her own name—it's worth noting
that Choi herself took the name Rachel after she emigrated from Korea
to the United States in 1991. Effectively illustrated with warm,
somewhat folkish paintings, The Name Jar is a compelling and
moving story, sure to make young readers see how awkward and lonely
newcomers from other countries must feel.

LADY LOLLIPOP,by Dick King-Smith, with illustrations by
Jill Barton. (Candlewick Press, $14.99; grades 3-6.) A spoiled
princess, the parents who can't control her, an impoverished orphan,
and a pig named Lollipop prove the perfect ingredients for a delightful
fairy tale. On her 8th birthday, Princess Penelope demands a pig, and
not just any pig. She wants the only swine trained to sit, stand, and
roll over on command—even if the animal responds only to the
gentle voice of its young instructor, Johnny Skinner. She brings both
pig and boy to the Royal Mews, despite her parents' pleas to the
contrary (Chapter 8 is drolly titled "If the pig comes in, Mommy goes
out"), and charges Johnny with "palace-training" Lollipop. As any
seasoned fable reader can guess, he also ends up teaching Penelope to
be a considerate young lady. The moralistic plot borders on hackneyed,
but the antics of Lollipop, who charms even the fastidious Queen
Ethelwynne by fertilizing her prize-winning roses, are sure to
please.

SORRY, by Jean Van Leeuwen, with illustrations by Brad
Sneed. (Fogelman, $15.99; grades K-2.) A great picture book is
usually the product of a great partnership, one in which writer and
illustrator bring equally high measures of talent to the project. Such
is the case with Sorry. In clean, easy prose, Van
Leeuwen—author of dozens of children's books, including the
Amanda and Oliver Pig stories—weaves an odd but irresistible tale
about two grown brothers, Ebenezer and Obadiah, who live together
happily on a farm until they fight one day over a bowl of lumpy
oatmeal. Neither can bring himself to apologize, so the two eventually
divide their land and stop speaking to each other. Years pass, and the
brothers marry, raise families, and thrive, but it takes cousins two
generations removed from Ebenezer and Obadiah to say the word that
finally ends the feud. It's a good yarn, and Sneed's vibrant
watercolors and distinctive perspective and characterizations add a
wistful poignancy that makes this little volume special.

—Jennifer Pricola and Blake Hume Rodman

For more information about ordering titles reviewed in the
"Books" section, call (888) 887-3200 or visit Teacher Magazine's
Bookshelf.

Vol. 13, Issue 2, Page 53

Published in Print: October 1, 2001, as For Kids

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